


“Tattoos are pretty permanent Eds”

by misslmf



Series: x reddie fics x [2]
Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Adult Eddie Kaspbrak, Adult Richie Tozier, Angst, Eddie Kaspbrak Loves Richie Tozier, Eddie Kaspbrak is a Mess, Eddie has a tattoo, Established Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier, Fluff, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, M/M, Rated T for Trashmouth, Reddie, Richie Tozier Loves Eddie Kaspbrak, Richie Tozier is a Mess, The Author Regrets Nothing, The Losers Club, but blink and you’ll miss it, they were boyfriends from the beginning change my mind, underage tattoos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-20
Updated: 2019-10-20
Packaged: 2020-12-24 12:03:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21099167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misslmf/pseuds/misslmf
Summary: Eddie gets a tattoo after a game of truth or dare with the Losers Club.Then, 27 years later, he finds a strange marking on his skin that he can’t remember ever seeing before. Maybe a friend from his childhood can help him remember what it is——there is some mature language in this fic (pretty much the average swear words that richie would say in every other sentence) so be warned if you don’t like that stuff





	“Tattoos are pretty permanent Eds”

Eddie himself didn't really know what he was doing. It was all because of some stupid dare. He should have picked truth. He always picked truth. But instead of that, Richie told him to 'spice it up a bit'. He'd said okay, but he really didn't expect Bev to dare him to get a tattoo. And he definitely didn't expect himself to say yes.

Alas, there he was. Standing in front of the tattoo shop, holding Richie's hand, who was shaking with not-so-silent laughter. The neon glowing sign was shining down on them, almost blinding; it read 'Inked' (_“Wow, how original.” Eddie had said with a roll of his eyes_). It was one of the only places in Derry that didn't give a shit about age - 16 years old wasn’t exactly legal yet - and would tattoo anything that moved, as long as it paid for it after.

"Are you sure you wanna go through with this man?" Richie said as they pushed the door open, a bell ringing as it swung and hit the wall. "Tattoos are pretty permanent Eds."

"A dare's a dare." Eddie shrugged. "And by the way, just because we’re in a relationship, it doesn’t give you rights to call me ‘Eds’. I still hate it.”

Richie pouted but Eddie just ignored it with an eye roll, but a fond smile on his face that he couldn’t control.

“Anyway, shouldn't you be the one encouraging me to do shit like this? Or is it opposite day?"

"Okay yes, I would usually be doing that," Richie squeezed his hand and leaned closer to him. "If it were anyone else. I don't want you to freak out, tattoo shops aren't always the cleanest." Richie thought for a moment and then snapped his fingers. "I know! Don't get a tattoo and tell them that you got it somewhere private, so you can't show it. Like on your dick!"

Eddie grimaced and shook his head wildly.

"No way in hell would they believe that." Eddie looked around nervously. "Look, I'm sure this place is fine and... sanitized."

Richie chuckled and planted a kiss on Eddie's cheek sweetly. They walked together to make the appointment and before they knew it, Eddie was sitting on the chair and the tattooist was preparing everything.

"I always thought I'd be the first to get a tat." Richie said thoughtfully, looking at the designs lining the walls. The artist was very talented, no doubt about that. It made Eddie feel slightly better. At least it seemed he was in good hands. 

"I want you to chose my tattoo Rich." Eddie said slowly, locking eyes with Richie. He immediately regretted it when he saw the intense grin that lit up Richie's face like the sign outside.

"Oh you definitely shouldn't have said that Eds!" Richie laughed deviously. Eddie was officially scared of his boyfriend.

"What'll it be little guy." The artist said, sliding over on his wheeled stool, wielding the tattoo gun. Eddie could add another person to his list of fears. It really was getting far too long.

Richie hopped over to the artist and whispered some words into his ear, barely managing to do so through his giggles. The tattooist raised an eyebrow and looked at Eddie weirdly.

"Oh dear God what have I done." Eddie whispered to himself, freaking out a little bit.

"Whatever you want little weirdo." He said to Richie with a chuckled. He asked Eddie to take off his shirt (which did shock him to his core, but he eventually did it when Richie told him that everything was okay). He raised the gun and touched it to Eddie's skin.

He had promised himself he wouldn't, but as soon as the needle touched him, he yelped and reached blindly for Richie's hand and held it so tight that he was pretty sure he was hurting Richie. The buzzing of the needle did make him feel a bit better... but not a whole lot. Eddie looked down at where the tattoo was being created; on his chest, right over his heart. He couldn't quite read what it was but he saw the ink was red. When he looked up, he could see that Richie was blushing.

"What do you ask for idiot?” Eddie said in a strained voice, smiling despite the scenario.

"Now that's a surprise my love." Richie said softly, kissing Eddie's forehead. "But I promise it's not my dick. As much as I'm sure you'd love that on you."

Eddie slapped him on the arm and the tattooist looked awkward.

"You can't say shit like that in public dumbass." He was trying not to laugh too much because he figured that a messed up tattoo was worse than whatever Richie had chosen to put on his chest. "I'm so sorry Mr... Tattoo Man."

"It's alright, I've heard worse things said in front of me in this place." The guy said. All three of them sat in silence for a moment, feeling very uncomfortable, before he cleared his throat and got back to work again.

The pain seemed to fade a little bit after a while and soon Eddie stopped snapping the bones in Richie's hand. They talked in hushed voices for a bit and it felt like only minutes before he was placing the gun back on the tray and telling Eddie that it was complete.

"Come on baby, look in the mirror." Richie said quietly. "I want you to see what I chose for you."

He helped Eddie stand up without moving his torso too much so it didn't hurt when he walked. Eddie looked at himself up and down in the mirror and his eyes focused on the red ink that was written beautifully in cursive on his skin.

_Richie loves his Spaghetti Head_

Eddie groaned but inside he was screaming with joy. He couldn't believe he actually loved something that h e allowed Richie to put on his body without his permission. God, he was terrified that he’d be walking out with a dick on his chest. Or something dumb like, _I Fucked Your Mom_ (although, Eddie had stopped being so annoyed by that phrase when Richie announced that maybe ‘I Fucked Your Mom’ could be their ‘always’ and then erupted into laughter). But instead, the tattoo was sweet, a tattoo that meant something to them. He turned his head to look round at Richie who was sharing the giant smile on his lips.

"It's beautiful Rich." Eddie said quietly. "I love it. I love you."

"I love you too Eds." Richie held Eddie's face gently in his hands. "I love you so much. And hey! Now at least now you'll remember me forever!”

"Like I could ever forget you Richie Tozier." Eddie wrapped his fingers around Richie's wrists where they were holding his face. "You'll always be right here." He pointed to and tapped the tattoo, where his heart was. Then Richie surged forward and they kissed.

"My Eddie Spaghetti. You're mine, forever and ever."

"And you’re mine. Forever and ever."

☾ ☾ ☾

Eddie had always hated planes. It was too high up. Too many people all breathing the same air, spreading their germs around, and at such a high pressure. It's dangerous for the ears. Plus, what if the person he was sitting next to was travel-sick? He could not deal with someone throwing up on him and having that vomit smell surrounding him for another few hours on his way to Derry.

Derry. The word still shook him to his core. He couldn't believe he was going back there. After 27 years he could barely remember the place. It was weird that he couldn't and it didn't make much sense. He thought he'd always remember every second of the summers there that he spent with his friends. But as he was sitting on the plane seat, the places they went and even the faces of his friends were all a blur. The idea that he couldn't recall a thing made him feel sick to his stomach. Maybe he was going to be the one to throw up. His face blanched and he started shaking suddenly. He shot up (as much as one could in a small window seat) and rushed past all of the other passengers on his aisle, clutching his rucksack in his arms and hurridly locking himself in the toilet.

His fingers were trembling as he tried to open the zip of his little fanny pack and pull out his inhaler. Despite it not actually having medicine in it, it still helped him. Some kind of mental link thing or something. It was so damn small in that toilet that it felt like the walls were closing in. There was sweat dripping down his face and somehow he was boiling and freezing all at the same time.He was shivering but felt like he needed to strip down to be cool and he didn't know how to fix it.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck," Eddie hissed through his teeth. He looked at himself in the mirror and decided he needed to change. It was too hot in this long sleeved top. “_Fuck_ I need to get out of these clothes."

There were a few jackets and trousers blocking the way but right at the bottom of his duffel bag (he had used his hand luggage bag for his clothes as well - it's very efficient and space saving) were a bunch of pastel coloured polo shirts. He pulled his jumper over his head and dropped it next to him on the floor. He watched himself in the mirror as he was about to put on the shirt and froze suddenly, locking eyes with himself. His gaze fell slowly down to his chest and saw something he'd never seen before. 

"What the fuck?” Eddie fell towards the mirror and slapped his hand on it, touching the reflection of his chest and then his actual skin. "What the actual _fuck_ is this?"

Across his stark pale skin, right where his heart was, a light pink scrawl was there, like a scar. But that didn't make any sense, there'd never been a scar there before. He'd never been hurt like that before, let alone hard enough on the chest to leave a permanent scar. A scar that he'd never even seen before. It looked like it was writing... but he couldn't make any sense of it. The one word he could make out was,

"Love." He whispered, stroking across the scar, the bumps on his usually smooth skin feeling foreign under his touch. “_Love_?"

"Hey! Are you planning to come out any time soon? Some of us out here need to pee!"

Eddie jumped and almost slipped over the top that was lying on the floor. The amount of time he’d been in there had completely slipped his mind. He pulled on his polo shirt, shoved his clothes in his duffel messily and managed to side-shimmy out of the toilet with all of his stuff bunched up in his arms. There was an actual line in front of him.

_Shit_

☾ ☾ ☾

"_Eduardo! Ándale, let's go!_"

Eddie was hugging Bill tightly when he heard Richie calling him loudly from the doorway. He tried to hold in a laugh when it sounded but when he felt Bill doing the same, he broke down. 

"Go after your boyfriend Eddie." Bill said, trying to slow his breathing. 

"Hey, he's not my boyfriend Bill." Eddie said, scowling a little bit. "I'm _married_, remember?" He held up his left hand and wiggled his ring finger. 

"Right, of course, sorry Eddie." Bill shrugged and patted him on the back one more time, before walking away to talk to Mike again. 

Eddie frowned as he watched him walk away and he played with his hands, spinning his wedding ring round and round, twitching slightly when he got closer to Richie, who was grinning at him, happier than Eddie had ever seen him before. Well, as much as he could remember of course. But it did make little butterflies fly around in his stomach (_very_ annoying by the way). 

"Shall we?" Richie smirked and held out his arm for Eddie, like one of those princes in a movie that would lead a princess down some kind of fancy gold staircase or something. 

"Go away dickwad." Eddie snorted, shoving Richie away from him and grabbing his bag from his grip. "Let's go, before the motel closes."

"I'm pretty sure motels don't close Eds." Richie started walking down the street, slightly faster than Eddie expected. 

"Why are you walking so fast man?" Eddie actually had to speed walk to catch him and keep up with him. "Jesus, some of us aren't like walking noodles with legs like a giraffes."

"I'm not the walking noodle Mr Eddie Spaghetti." Richie laughed heartily, throwing his head back. The nickname felt like a needle piercing through Eddie's skull but he couldn't quite understand why. It was just another thing that Richie did to piss him off. Why did it feel so different to the others?

"Don't fucking call me that." Eddie said under his breath, that he was desperately trying to control considering how fast he was walking. He prayed that he wouldn't have to get out his inhaler and look like an idiot in front of Richie. 

"Whatever you want sweetie." Richie shook his head but Eddie could tell he was smiling. "Look, the motel's right up there. I'll book us a room considering I'll probably get there an hour before your little legs will carry you."

"Motherfucker!" Eddie yelled as soon as Richie started booking down the street and he had to run after him. 

He felt like a kid again, sprinting after his best friend, laughing his head off so hard that he got stitch in his side. And when he finally caught Richie he jumped on his back and they both fell to the ground of the parking lot. For once, he didn't really care about the germs. Richie kicked Eddie off and rolled over so he was lying on top of him, pinning him down on the concrete. Richie was howling with laughter and Eddie felt like he could barely breathe and his face hurt from grinning so much. When he looked up at Richie, his eyes were sparkling through his glasses and it looked like a million galaxies. Eddie was practically hypnotised. Richie turned red suddenly and fell off him, standing up quickly and clearing his throat, brushing dust off his clothes.

"God, I can't believe we just did that like we were twelve again.” Richie chuckled and took a deep breath in and out. "We're fucking fourty man, I don't know if my old body can take it anymore." He held out his hand and heaved Eddie up. "I just hope I haven't broken your old bag of bones."

"Yeah, we should get a room now. It's pretty late." Eddie looked around and pointed to the reception building.

They got to the desk and he let Richie take over, charming the young lady sitting there and getting them a room in no time. Neither of them wanted to be alone in that town, for the first time in 27 years. Especially not if that damned clown is still running around everywhere all over again. Eddie grabbed the key to room 742 and took both of their bags up as Richie paid the woman. He tried to ignore the knot in his stomach that formed when Richie called her gorgeous and threw in wink as he walked away. 

"What the hell was that?" Eddie hissed when he unlocked the door and Richie swept in, taking his bag and throwing it on one of the beds.

"Just turning on a bit of the Tozier charm." He winked again and Eddie rolled his eyes, entering the room himself and shutting the door behind him. Richie suddenly shot towards him and grabbed his hand. 

"Are you okay Rich?" Eddie said quietly, linking their fingers together, not really thinking about what he was doing and just acting on instinct. “What's wrong?"

"Please lock the door." He said. There was a tiny amount of fear in his voice that Eddie wanted to get rid of straight away. "I don't want someone- some_thing_ to get in."

"Of course Richie. Anything." Eddie nodded and turned the key until he heard the click, then tested the handle to make sure. "All good. We're gonna be okay." He raised Richie's hand and put it on his chest wear his heart was. "You're safe here with me."

"Yeah..." Richie said, nodding along with Eddie. "Yeah we're okay. We're gonna be okay."

Eddie smiled softly, not wanting to do anything to break the beautiful silence between them. Or, at least he tried to, before all of a sudden it felt like someone was stabbing his chest with a tiny little knife, over and over again like some kind of pattern. He was then squeezing Richie's hand so tight that even he yelped out in pain as well. Eddie shut his eyes and they started stinging, like he was about to start crying.

"Are you okay Eds?" Richie said, trying to get through to him. But Eddie wasn't answering, he couldn't speak. "Eddie? Eddie what's wrong?!"

Eddie's eyes shot open and he gasped, throwing his hands against the door, his chest heaving. A thousand words flew through his brain at lightning speed and it was like he was going deaf. 

_'A dare's a dare' 'I want you to choose my tattoo Rich' 'It's a surprise my love' ‘Like I could ever forget you Richie Tozier’_

He pushed Richie away from him and bolted to the bathroom, throwing his shirt over his head and leaning forward to the mirror, staring into his own eyes and somehow choking on air. Once again, his gaze was drawn to his chest and that thin pink scar on his skin was clear. It was a tattoo. And he could finally make it out. 

_Richie loves his Spaghetti Head_

Eddie stroked it gently and smiled as everything can flooding back and the pain faded away into a pleasant tingle in his stomach. 

"I told you tats were permanent Eds." 

Richie was standing in the doorway when Eddie spun round. He had his hands on his hips and was staring at Eddie with his all too familiar shit-eating grin. As much as Eddie wanted to shout at him for calling him that stupid name again, he couldn't manage to do anything apart from taking two huge steps towards Richie, grabbing his face and smashing their lips together. There was no shock in Richie's reaction, as if he'd been waiting for it to happen since the moment they saw each other a man in the restaurant; he wrapped his arms around Eddie and lifted him up a tiny so they were level (and also so he could run his hands up and down Eddie's back, over his soft cotton shirt). 

"I love you." Eddie breathed out against his lips. "God I love you. How could I have ever forgotten that?"

"I love you too." Richie said, just as breathless. "So fucking much. You have no idea.”

“It was like...” Eddie had to pause when Richie kissed all over his face and the breath was swept from his lungs. “It was like ever since I left Derry, I was in love, but not with the person I was supposed to be in love with. Not with the woman I married.”

“I know what you mean.” Richie’s cheeks were red and his hands were shaking on Eddie’s skin when they moved under his shirt. “I could never stay in a relationship long enough for it to be serious because none of them ever completed me. Not the way you do.”

“_Richie_...” Eddie muttered, tears stinging behind his closed eyelids. “Richie I’m so sorry.”

“Why are you sorry baby?” Richie pulled away and let Eddie tuck his head in the crock of his neck and shoulder as he shook with sobs. “Oh don’t cry, you have nothing to apologise for.”

“I forgot about you Richie!” Eddie said loudly. He opened his eyes and held Richie’s head by his jaw. “I promised you I’d never forget you and I did, I forgot you!”

“Hey hey hey, shhh.” Richie whispered in Eddie’s ear as it fell down against his shoulder again, rocking them back and forth. “We all forgot Eds, you can’t blame yourself. It’s not your fault.” 

They stood like that together, still and silent for a while. They both forgot they were standing in a dirty motel bathroom (probably the least romantic room in the world) because to them, they were the only things that mattered. Just the two of them, together at last. They’d found each other again and this time they were never going to let go. And no demon-fucking-clown was going to break them apart, no matter how hard It tried.

“Don’t-“ Eddie let out a weird half sob half laugh noise and Richie even looked concerned for a minute. “Don’t call me Eds, fuckface.”

Richie scoffed and stepped back from Eddie, still holding his shoulders though.

“There’s my sassy little bitch.” He booped Eddie on the nose and laughed when he moved his head away and his nose wrinkled up like a bunny’s. “Cute, cute, cute!” He punctuated each word with a kiss and Eddie blushed. 

“Let’s get some sleep. You look tired.” Eddie suggested, wrapping his arms around Richie again, snuggling into his Hawaiian shirt and breathing his distinct smell. It probably would’ve been horrible to anyone else but to Eddie, it was heaven.

“Yeah you too. You look like shit.” Richie said. Eddie looked up, offended, but Richie just brushed it away with a wave of his hand. “Don’t worry, I always look like shit. Now we’re one of those cute couples that match.” 

“You don’t look like shit to me, dumbass.” 

They walked together slowly, hand in hand, back into their room and got to work on pushing their beds together to make a bigger one, so they could curl up and sleep next to each other, comfortable in each other’s hold. Eddie’s wedding ring lay abandoned on the carpet next to the bed, right where he’d thrown it off as they were walking out of the bathroom. Once they were changed, they crawled under the covers and Richie put his arm over Eddie’s shoulder as he used Richie’s chest as a pillow. The sound of his beating heart made Eddie smile and feel safer already. The prospect of having to kill an evil clown was the furthest thing from either of their minds.

Eddie fell asleep to the soft feeling of Richie stroking his tattoo with his fingers back and forth and got the best nights sleep he’d had in years.

**Author's Note:**

> writing this so fun oh my god i love writing Richie and Eddie being adorable  
it seems that while i used to only write malec, reddie has over taken that so here we are guys  
i just thought that this idea would be really cute lol  
oh and btw it took me so freaking long to choose their room number because i wanted it to be something specific to them for i opted for searching through the whole book trying to find the one page where Richie calls Eddie ‘my love’ and it literally took me a good ten minutes (it’s a big book like damn). the lengths i go to write about these too is stupid 
> 
> i hope you guys liked it and had a good time reading it!  
thanks for reading :))


End file.
